Special Stage Audio – ‘Cake Tray Vol.1’ (Special Stage Audio)

As experimentation levels within the bustling instrumental Grime producer circuit continue to flourish, more and more small area-­centric collectives have started to come to the fore and make their own marks on the landscape. Nottingham’s Special Stage Audio are a pertinent example, having presided over only their second release this last week.

Following Erra’s debut transmission, ‘Lemon Drizzle’, back in April, they’ve enlisted a fresh quartet of up­ and­ coming, internationally ­based producers for the inaugural volume of their ‘Cake Tray’ EP series. Super­talented stateside newcomer William Skeng, a producer heavily backed by Slackk and the crew behind Boxed, Australian producers Secundus & Dellity and London­ based Nammy Wams all feature across four original tracks of understated quality.

Skeng’s ingeniously titled ‘Symbiotic Wetsuit Riddim’ is arguably the best of the lot dreamy, off­-kilter melodies meet gentle, hazy bass and warped, experimental percussion but there is joy to be found throughout here. Nammy Wams melody ­rich square­ waves on ‘Job’ are a stand out, as are Dellity’s frenetic, chop & screw beats on the much heavier’Saccharin’, whilst Secundus goes all out mystical on strangely hypnotic Grime cut ‘Cute’.

Certainly original and seemingly focused on pushing their own aesthetic, Special Stage Audio can count this joint effort as a job well done. Very promising stuff.